CONTENT WARNING: The following article discusses suicide.
The widow of late Soungarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell is suing his doctor, accusing him of overprescribing medication which led to the rocker’s death in 2017.
Vicki Cornell has filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court, which alleges that Dr Robert Koblin “negligently and repeatedly” prescribed Chris Cornell “dangerous mind-altering controlled substances”, as the BBC reports.
The lawsuit alleges that the drugs Cornell was prescribed “impaired [his] cognition, clouded his judgement and caused him to engage in dangerous impulsive behaviours that he was unable to control, costing him his life”.
Cornell was allegedly prescribed large amounts of anti-anxiety drug Lorazepam (Ativan), beginning in September 2015. Vicki Cornell has also alleged that Doctor Koblin had not physically examined her husband before recommending the drug.
Chris Cornell was found dead in a Detroit hotel room in May 2017, and his death was later ruled a suicide.
A toxicology report found several drugs in his body, however a coroner said the drugs weren’t the cause of his death.
In her first interview following her husband’s death, Vikki Cornell said “he didn’t want to die”.
“If he was of sound mind, I know he wouldn’t have done this,” she said. “My Chris was happy, loving, caring and warm. This was not a depressed man — it wasn’t like I missed that. What I missed were the signs of addiction.”
In September this year, a previously unreleased Chris Cornell song called ‘When Bad Does Good’ was released.
In October, Cornell’s children unveiled a statue of their father in Seattle, Washington.
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